Motherhood at the Beginning of a Scientific Career : A Case Study in the Czech Republic

Authors

HARVÁNKOVÁ Klára COHENMILLER Anna Sioni

Year of publication 2017
Type Appeared in Conference without Proceedings
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Arts

Citation
Description Czech Republic, just like other European countries, is dealing with a question of equal opportunities of men and women. The topic has permeated many fields, not even the Czech scientific environment has been immune to the debate over the topic of harmonization of scientific work and family life. A discussion is currently under way in the Czech Republic on conditions of professional preparation of doctoral students and early stage researchers. The area of harmonization of parenthood and doctoral studies is also one of the contemporary topics. According to the Monitoring Report on Situation of Women in the Czech Scientific Environment, the largest dropout rates in female scientific participation occur either even before entering the doctoral studies or right after obtaining the doctoral degree and before entering the scientific community as such (Postavení žen v české vědě. Monitorovací zpráva za rok 2015). As a 2012 study by LERU organization points out, 45% of women leaves the academia after finishing the doctoral studies. One of the reasons for women leaving science is also caring for children. Workplace setup in the area of harmonization of parenthood and scientific career can play a significant role for female scientists at the beginning of their scientific careers, and therefore even during the doctoral studies. One of the problems the Czech sciences are now coming to terms with is the low representation of women, weak opportunities for their career engagement in science, research, and innovation, and insufficient emphasis on gender perspective into the development of scientific knowledge and innovation. Even though the number of women in doctoral studies are on the rise, this increase does not markedly show in the area of research, in particular as noted in the scientific career.
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